BearingPoint delivered record results in 2017

The firm generated record revenues of 712 million euros in 2017, representing a 13% increase over the previous year. Bookings grew 14% year-on-year, showing strong momentum in business development. Consequently, the firm grew much faster than the 7% growth forecasted by research company Gartner for consulting worldwide in 2017*. With a utilization rate of 73.5% the firm ran at capacity, and it increased its workforce by 11% year-on-year to allow for further growth. Despite significant investments in people and the creation of new IP-based assets, growth was highly profitable with an operating income increase of 17% year over year. As a result, BearingPoint is set to reach its goal of one billion euros in revenues by 2020.

Continued execution of the firm’s long-term strategy to combine business consulting and technology solutions again paid off in 2017 across all regions, with the firm’s core territory EMEA again forming the stronghold. The Consulting unit showed a strong overall performance across all its industry segments and service lines, and specific drivers of growth such as the firm’s products in regulatory technology stood out in the Solutions unit.

BearingPoint continued to invest in innovative ecosystems and new IP assets that bring technologies, ideas and financing together to create rapid solutions for changing market environments. Against this background, the firm acquired the supply-chain specialist LCP Consulting in the UK, integrated an automotive consulting team in Italy, and invested in the Norwegian insure-tech start-up Tribe. With its “Be an innovator” process, BearingPoint generated more than 100 ideas for new services. Innovation labs were used to develop and validate innovative services with clients. BearingPoint created ten new Accelerators, the firm’s technology packages with rapid market impact, which led to 56 million euros in new bookings in 2017. The infrastructure of the firm’s Solutions unit was further developed to better match its focus on software products. It now also includes P&L responsibility to provide even more room for entrepreneurship in this unit.

Driven by its strong growth BearingPoint increased its workforce with new talents across all regions by double-digit growth numbers. Also, 19 new Partners were admitted to the firm’s partnership, 16 of them were promoted internally, three joined from the market.

BearingPoint’s offerings for digital transformation and regulatory technology were recognized by leading analysts in 2017. IDC evaluated BearingPoint as a “Major Player” in its “MarketScape: EMEA Digital Strategy and Agency Services 2017 Vendor Assessment,” and Gartner named BearingPoint a “Visionary” in its 2017 “Magic Quadrant for Integrated Revenue and Customer Management for Communication Services Providers.” BearingPoint was also recognized as a 'Visionary' in the Gartner “Magic Quadrant for CRM and Customer Experience Implementation Services, Worldwide” for the third consecutive time. The firm was honored with the Chartis RiskTech100® award in the category “Regulatory Reporting” as well as with the Central Banking award as “Consultancy and Advisory Services Provider of the Year.” In November 2017, BearingPoint was awarded the Salesforce Platinum Partner status as a result of successfully helping clients enhance their customer experience and run their businesses in the cloud.